French police said Friday that a gunman who had been holding at least five hostages in a kosher market in eastern Paris was dead, CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports.
Two police officials told The Associated Press that at least four people died at the grocery. One of the officials said that three of the dead were hostages. French media reported that as many as 10 people ran out of the market after police conducted a raid.
Earlier, the gunman threatened to kill the hostages if police launched an assault on the cornered brothers suspected in the massacre, a police official told The Associated Press.
Less than an hour after the gunman made his threat, gunfire was heard at the location of the standoff involving the brothers around the town of Dammartin-en-Goële, about 25 miles northeast of Paris. Officials later confirmed to CBS News that the two men had been killed.
U.S. intelligence analysts were scrubbing files and old intelligence information to search for any connection of any of the Paris terror suspects to anyone in the U.S., CBS News has learned.
FBI officials around the country have also been tasked with running to ground any information being gleaned from Paris, CBS News reports. So far there is no indication of any plot involving the U.S.
The police official told the AP several people had been wounded when the gunman opened fire in the market near Paris’ Porte de Vincennes Friday afternoon and were able to flee and get medical care.
Earlier, a police official told the AP that the man declared “you know who I am” when he opened fire.
A security officer directs released hostages after police stormed a kosher market to end a hostage situation in Paris Jan. 9, 2015.
Paris police believe the suspect is Amedy Coulibaly, 32. Police are seeking information on him and his girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddienne, 26, in connection with the deadly shooting of a police officer on Thursday morning just south of the capital in Montrouge. Both were suspected of being armed and dangerous.
French President Francois Hollande ordered the country’s top security official to the scene of the market, an official in the presidency told The Associated Press. The police official declined to be named when discussing the unfolding situation.
The incident came as a separate hostage situation was unfolding around the town of Dammartin-en-Goële, about 25 miles northeast of Paris, involving the suspects in Wednesday’s massacre at a French satirical newspaper.
Smoke is seen at left as French police special forces launch their assault at a kosher supermarket, where several people were taken hostage near the Porte de Vincennes in eastern Paris Jan. 9, 2015.
Smoke is seen at left as French police special forces launch their assault at a kosher supermarket, where several people were taken hostage near the Porte de Vincennes in eastern Paris Jan. 9, 2015.
The gunman allegedly fatally wounded the female officer after a car crash and then fled on foot in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge Thursday morning.
French television reports said Friday that at least two people had been arrested in connection with the attack. BFM-TV, citing law enforcement officials, said the suspected gunman was believed to be an acquaintance of the Kouachi brothers. RTL-TV, citing security sources, said the Montrouge gunman knew Cherif Kouachi very well.
Cherif Kouachi’s arrest made him the more well-known of the two. But Said Kouachi may actually have stronger ties to al Qaeda terrorists.
U.S. sources said French investigators have evidence Said Kouachi traveled to Yemen in 2011 and linked up with the terrorist affiliate al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Orr reports. CBS News has been told Said “spent several months” in Yemen training with the group known as AQAP.
During Said’s time in Yemen, AQAP’s terror operations were being run by the U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
Awlaki was the inspiration behind Nidal Hassan’s massacre at Fort Hood, Texas. Awlaki also led the failed attempts to hit the U.S. with bombs smuggled onto jetliners inside underwear and computer printers.
It’s not clear if Said Kouachi had any direct dealings with Awlaki before returning to France in 2011. Awlaki was killed by a U.S. drone strike on Sept. 30 the same year.
Investigators believe Said Kouachi returned home with the intention of using his training to carry out an attack on a target in France. But, law enforcement officials are struggling to explain the three-year gap between Said Kouachi’s homecoming and the mass shooting at Charlie Hebdo.
Investigators don’t know if the brothers carried out the massacre on direct orders from AQAP. It’s possible the suspects selected their own target and timing. In either case the attack is one of deadliest linked to al Qaeda in a decade.